ARCHAEOLOGY: Pre-Flood giant reptiles

There were giants in the earth in those days; Genesis 6:4

"A raccoon-sized armored lizard newly identified from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah highlights the unexpected variety of these giant reptiles during the height of the Age of Dinosaurs. 

The species, named Bolg amondol after the goblin prince in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, also provides insight into the complex connections that once linked ancient continents.

While most fossil lizards from the Age of Dinosaurs are known only from highly fragmentary remains—often nothing more than a single bone or tooth—the preserved pieces of Bolg’s skeleton, though incomplete, hold an extraordinary wealth of information.

The Monstersauria are characterized by their large size and distinctive features like pitted, polygonal armor attached to their skulls and sharp, spire-like teeth. So by modern lizard standards, a very large animal, similar in size to a Savannah monitor lizard; something that you wouldn’t want to mess around with.

The rocks where Bolg was discovered, the Kaiparowits Formation of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, have emerged as a paleontological hotspot over the past 25 years, producing one of the most astounding dinosaur-dominated records anywhere in North America with dozens of new species and critical insights into the past." 

SciTechDaily

ARCHAEOLOGY: Glimpse into Pre-Flood animal kingdom

All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. Genesis 7:22

"For more than 15 years, an international group of paleontologists has been uncovering and analyzing fossils in Africa to better understand the Permian, a geologic period that....ended with the most catastrophic mass extinction in Earth’s history.

“This mass extinction was nothing short of a cataclysm for life on Earth,...,” said Christian Sidor, a UW professor of biology and

curator of vertebrate paleontology at the UW Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture.

The series highlights recent findings about the wide variety of animals that once inhabited Permian Africa, including saber-toothed predators, burrowing herbivores, and a large amphibian resembling a salamander.

All these finds were excavated in three basins across southern Africa: the Ruhuhu Basin in southern Tanzania, the Luangwa Basin in eastern Zambia, and the Mid-Zambezi Basin in southern Zambia.

For decades, scientists’ best understanding of the Permian, the Great Dying and the start of the Mesozoic came from the Karoo Basin in South Africa, which contains a near-complete fossil record of periods before and after the mass extinction.

"The number of specimens we’ve found in Zambia and Tanzania is so high and their condition is so exquisite that we can make species-level comparisons to what paleontologists have found in South Africa,” said Sidor." 

SciTechDaily

ARCHAEOLOGY: River of Death

And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: Genesis 7:23

"Paleontologists in Alberta, Canada, have recently unearthed “a mass grave on a monumental scale.” The BBC story speaks of

"Thousands of dinosaurs [that] were buried here, killed in an instant on a day of utter devastation."

Now, a group of palaeontologists have come to Pipestone Creek -

appropriately nicknamed the “River of Death”.
The question and answer regarding the mass dinosaur death is found in the same sentence above. It was a massive flood (“river”) of death that killed them 4,500 years ago. Unfortunately, paleontologists will not accept this hypothesis and unnecessarily place the event many millions of years ago.

In Michael Benton’s paleontology text in the section on dinosaur extinction, he lists “three current models to explain the KPg [Cretaceous-Paleogene or K-T extinction] event.”

These are the impact hypothesis (i.e., the giant asteroid impact supposedly 66 million years ago), the volcanic hypothesis, and the multiple causes hypothesis. 

In the multiple causes hypothesis he mentions “evidence of numerous killing agencies, including impact, marine regression [sea level drop], volcanic activity, and changes in climate.” Alas, the most obvious “agency” is not mentioned: a worldwide deluge.

Indeed, on the same page of Benton’s text he states,

"Over the years, more than a hundred hypotheses have been presented for the extinction of the dinosaurs....From about 1920, dozens of hypotheses were put forward, ranging from the physiological (slipped discs, excessive hormone production, loss of their sex drive) to the ecological (competition with mammals, change in plant food), from the climatic (too hot, too cold, too wet) to the terrestrial catastrophic (vulcanism, magnetic reversal), from the topographic (marine regression, mountain building) to the extraterrestrial (sunspots, cometary impact)."

As one can see, any explanation is valid—no matter how outrageous—except the most obvious: a global flood. A section of the BBC article has a most telling title: “A Sudden Devastating Event.” Morelle and Francis state,

“We believe that this was a herd on a seasonal migration that got tangled up in some catastrophic event that effectively wiped out, if not the entire herd, then a good proportion of it,” Prof [Emily] Bamforth says. All the evidence suggests that this catastrophic event was a flash flood - perhaps a storm over the mountains that sent an unstoppable torrent of water towards the herd, ripping trees from

their roots and shifting boulders. Prof Bamforth says the Pachyrhinosaurus wouldn't have stood a chance. “These animals are not able to move very fast because of their sheer numbers, and they're very top heavy - and really not very good at swimming at all.” Rocks found at the site show the swirls of sediment from the fast-flowing water churning everything up. It’s as if the destruction is frozen in time as a wave in the stone."

To be fair, as one can see, they do mention a flood—a local flash flood.
One cannot help but be amazed that when viewing Pipestone Creek and other massive graveyards, the paleontological community is so blind that they are unwilling to consider the obvious Genesis Flood explanation for dinosaur fossils. 

This is a clear example of what is called confirmation bias—the propensity to interpret information or evidence in ways consistent with existing beliefs while rejecting others. 

Wearing such blinders has significantly influenced the interpretation of the fossil record for over a century and a half so that the worldwide sedimentary formations are only considered in a uniformitarian context. 

Virtually every dinosaur fossil ever found is ensconced in sedimentary or (rarely) volcanic sediments, indicating a sudden and catastrophic deposition. This is particularly true with rich Cretaceous dinosaur beds (e.g., the Lance and Ferris Formations in Wyoming and the Hell Creek Formation in Montana). 

Q: So why would paleontologists entertain bizarre extinction explanations such as slipped discs, sunspots, or magnetic reversals? A: Because if a scientist dismisses the global Flood out of hand, then anything goes when trying to explain the dinosaur demise. Anything.
The paleontologists are calling the Canadian mass grave the “River of Death,” but it should more accurately be called “The Flood of Death.” 

ICR

Archaeology: Ichthyosaurs Graveyard

"Ichthyosaurs are marine reptiles that occur globally in the same rock layers as dinosaurs. Specimens with babies support the idea that they gave live birth, unlike most of today’s reptiles.

A pregnant ichthyosaur fossil named Fiona offers new information about the lifestyles of these marine predators.

Originally discovered in 2009 and excavated in 2022 near the Tyndall Glacier in Torres Del Paine National Park, southernmost Chile, it is the first complete ichthyosaur found in Chile. The same site has produced an additional 86 ichthyosaur specimens to date, qualifying the locality as a Lagerstätte deposit, or a fossil graveyard. All seem to have been buried rapidly in wet sand that has since turned to sandstone.

Fiona was taken out of the ground in five pieces and flown by helicopter to a nearby ranger station before being shipped to the research laboratory at the Natural History Museum Río Seco in Punta Arenas, Chile.

One of the most fascinating aspects of Fiona is that her snout was found to have been pushed about four inches into the sand during burial, causing the skeleton to twist and exposing its right side. Science writer Jordan Joseph further described the specimen.
Inside her body were fossilized fish vertebrae, which indicate that her last meal had not yet been digested. The fetus was also mostly intact and appeared ready for birth, with its tail oriented toward what would have been the exit path from the mother.

Joseph added this about Fiona’s rapid burial,

"The fossil reveals a story of sudden burial. Scientists suspect an underwater landslide pushed down a heavy flow of sand that covered Fiona almost instantly, and led to excellent conditions for the preservation of both mother and unborn baby."

To explain the other 86 ichthyosaur fossils at the site, the science team postulated that repeated underwater landslides catastrophically buried each of them. 

Q: But where are marine animals being buried completely, so perfectly, and in such numbers today? 

--In addition, these fossils are found on the continent, not in the deep ocean.

A better explanation is that Fiona and the other ichthyosaurs were

buried in the catastrophe of the global Flood described in Genesis. The forces behind her sudden burial are best explained by super-sized, tsunami waves generated by tectonic activity during the Flood year. Earthquakes can generally create a series of tsunamis. 

--Each wave could have carried in several living ichthyosaurs from the ocean depths, rapidly burying them in sand and mud. 

While it’s impossible to tell if Fiona was giving birth at the time of her burial or if the baby was simply pushed out by the compaction process, it’s clear that ichthyosaurs gave life birth. Fiona is a reminder of the judgement of the Flood. Her unfortunate burial while pregnant is a consequence of Adam’s sin and rebellion against Jesus Christ, our Creator. With the rest of creation, Christians look forward to the day when God will “make all things new” (Revelation 21:5)." ICR

ARCHAEOLOGY: Necho's Armies Pottery

In his days Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Necho killed him at Megiddo, as soon as he saw him. 2 Kings 23:29

"This terse Biblical verse tells the story of the death of Josiah, the last great king of Judah, at the hands of the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II. Josiah's killing at Megiddo in 609 B.C. would spell doom for the Kingdom of Judah in the short term. In the long term, it would set off major end-of-the-world traditions in Judaism and Christianity linked

to the place where it all went down: the mound of Megiddo – better known as Armageddon.

Archaeologists working at Megiddo recently announced the discovery of an assemblage of Egyptian and Greek pottery dating to the seventh century BC, which they associate with the army of Pharaoh Necho who defeated King Josiah in 609 BC (2 Kgs 23:29–30). The Egyptian pottery is crudely made and poorly fired and was likely used for supplies for Necho’s army. 

The Greek pottery was likely used by Greek mercenaries whom
Necho had hired. The assemblage was discovered from 2016 to 2022 in an area (Area X) that had never before been excavated. 

The team concluded that the best explanation for this combination of pottery is that it was left by Necho’s army which was accompanied by Greek mercenaries. The book of Jeremiah seems to indicate that Greek troops from Lydia fought alongside Pharaoh Necho (Jer. 46:9).
ABR/Haaretz

ARCHAEOLOGY: Amphibian Graveyard of Wyoming Found

In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. Genesis 7:11

"Dozens of large soft-bodied tetrapods, thought to be “primitive amphibians,” have been found in a fossil graveyard in Wyoming. The press release says,

"Dozens of amphibians perished together on an ancient floodplain around 230 million years ago, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS One by Aaron M. Kufner of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, U.S., and colleagues."

Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming (Phys.org, 2 April 2025). How did dozens of large tetrapods die together? The press release tries to say they were somehow trapped by restricted waterways in a drought when suddenly calm water rose and buried them. That sounds like a highly unusual event.

"Fine-grained ancient soils and finely layered sediments indicate that

these fossils were buried in a floodplain setting. Unlike similar sites, the water was evidently very calm, since even very delicate parts of the skeletons are preserved intact, and the bones aren’t arranged in any pattern that would suggest strong currents."

Q: Why didn’t amphibians just float and rise to the surface then? 

Q: And why were so many individuals crammed into the same area? Q: And how could delicate parts of skeletons endure 230 million years? If this were a seasonal event, one would think there would be millions of fossil bonebeds stacked on top of each other in the strata. Q: Why only one?

A new metoposaurid (Temnospondyli) bonebed from the lower Popo Agie Formation (Carnian, Triassic) and an assessment of skeletal sorting (Kufner et al., PLoS One, 2 April 2025).
Fossils of metoposaurid stereospondyls, thought to be primitive amphibians, are found on every continent. Portions of this paper indicate that the hypothesis that these creatures died in place in calm water is not certain. At least one of the skeletons still had dental plates intact presumably when buried with the gums undisturbed.

"Considering the inferred seasonality during Camp Springs deposition, the specimen was likely a desiccated and fragmented

carcass. Desiccation or draping of the bone-bearing palatal integument would have allowed for the retention of the denticulate plates leading up to final deposition where these diminutive elements were ultimately preserved in place within the interpterygoid vacuity…. Along with our observations of matrix-supported clasts associated with EP, these data do not exclude the possibility of a debris flow-hosted bonebed. However, in the absence of a quarry map and other firsthand sedimentological and stratigraphic data, these observations remain inconclusive at this time."

Clasts are pieces of rock embedded in a deposit from other locations. Finding “large clasts” within the deposit suggests a catastrophic, sudden mass burial event. Bivalve fossils were also found at the site, along with “abundant fragments of weathered petrified wood littering the surrounding area.”

"Uniquely among metoposaurid bonebeds, the NK locality preserves articulated and disarticulated denticulate palatal plates. Denticulate plates were embedded in the soft tissue of the palate in life and have been reported from other metoposaurid assemblages but have not been found in articulation within the palate. Disarticulated palatal plates have only been found underneath skulls, but articulated plates have been found in skulls with the palate facing up."

The bonebed site, which they call Nobby Knob (NK), does not seem to fit the geological consensus view of a relatively calm lacustrine environment. They admit that whatever happened is “a mass mortality event of unknown cause.”

Our report coincided in time with one on Live Science: “Triassic amphibians the size of alligators perished in mass die-off in Wyoming, puzzling ‘bone bed’ reveals.”

Q: Dozens of alligator-sized amphibians buried together with bivalves and petrified wood? 

Q: Soft tissue impressions preserved for 230 million years? 

Q: How could that happen? 

Creationists and flood geologists should study this site and provide more reasonable alternatives to the view that this was the result of ordinary seasonal processes." 

CEH

ARCHAEOLOGY: Italian Dinosaur Graveyard -- 3 Possibilities

All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. Genesis 7:22

"Numerous dinosaur graveyards are found in sedimentary rocks. 

A recent report of a ‘herd’ of 11 duckbilled dinosaurs from a graveyard in Italy indicates how secular interpretations change with time.
Most of the dinosaur skeletons were nearly whole with the bones together. 

1) Earlier researchers had interpreted the find as follows:

The dinosaurs lived on an island, at a time when Europe was a series of islands.
They were dwarfed (a common outcome for island-dwelling creatures).
They lived 67 million years ago.
The 10 metres of thin carbonate layers in which they were found were laid down over 10,000 years.

2) But a newer narrative, based in part on one of the same dating techniques as the earlier research, claimed that:

These dinosaurs did not live on an island.
They were not dwarfed.
They lived 81 million years ago.
The carbonate layers took about 2,000 years to form.
This highlights the strong role of preconceived ideas in such interpretations.

3) Burial in the Genesis Flood remains the better solution, especially since the dinosaurs throughout the entire 10 metres of thin carbonate layers were all of the same species. 

Q: Why would individuals of the same species be buried in the same location repeatedly during a period of over 2,000 years? 

Clearly it did not take that long.
Moreover, the excellent state of preservation for each of the dinosaurs means the thin beds were deposited rapidly, as expected in the Flood." 

CMI

ARCHAEOLOGY: Hong Kong "Surprise"

All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. Genesis 7:22

"The recent discovery of the first dinosaur fossils in Hong Kong came as a surprise to evolutionary paleontologists. It was totally

unexpected since most of the rocks in Hong Kong are volcanic in origin. And volcanic rocks usually destroy bones, not preserve them.
“It’s shocking, because I never thought there would be dinosaur fossils in Hong Kong,” said Chong Got while looking at the new dinosaur bones on display at Hong Kong’s Heritage Discovery Center.
Michael Pittman, a dinosaur paleobiologist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said,

"Hong Kong is famous for being a built-up landscape, but half of it is country park. In the countryside areas, most of what you see are dinosaur-era rocks, but it’s volcanic rocks—and they are bad places to find fossils, because fossils just melt."

Conventional scientists believe the bones were originally buried in sand and gravel, became exposed due to a flood, and then were transported and reburied in their present location.
But Flood geologists are not surprised by this discovery. 

Recall how surprised conventional paleontologists were when the first discovery of dinosaurs was announced in Ireland in 2021. Again, there weren’t supposed to be dinosaurs there either since they were found in ocean-derived sediments mixed with marine fossils. However, dinosaurs in marine rocks seems to be a global phenomenon.
The common thread in all these dinosaur discoveries is water deposition. 

Most, if not all, dinosaurs are found in sedimentary rocks laid down by water at similar levels across the globe, including China. And the best source of water to explain these worldwide occurrences is the global Flood described in Genesis. 

--These so-called Cretaceous rocks at Hong Kong were deposited as the Flood water was approaching its peak level, likely close to Day 150 of the Flood. 

--Dinosaurs became entombed in mud and sand as their entire ecosystem was being destroyed by the advancing waves. At that point, a lot of volcanic activity was occurring across the world, too.

This global Flood interpretation also provides the “flood” needed to transport and bury the bones at Port Island, Hong Kong.

The Genesis Flood provides the best explanation for finding dinosaurs buried at about the same level and in the particular types of rocks across all of the continents. 

Only those who don’t accept the Bible as literal history are surprised." 

ICR

ARCHAEOLOGY: Scotty

And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. Genesis 7:10

"A Canadian research team found a vast network of fossilized blood vessels in Scotty, the well-known largest Tyrannosaurus rex fossil. They were found serendipitously while creating an intricate, 3-D model of the dinosaur fossil.

Commenting on the find, Ottawa paleontologist Jordan Mallon said, “For centuries, it’s been thought that there’s effectively no trace of biological tissue in a fossil—that there shouldn’t be”.

Such finds, while rare, are consistent with animals being rapidly fossilized during the Noahic Flood. 

There are other cases where, unlike here, the actual organic tissues and proteins themselves are still present. Such finds make an overwhelming case against evolution’s millions of years." 

CMI

ARCHAEOLOGY: Frankfurt Amulet

"1,800-year-old silver amulet could rewrite history of Christianity in

the early Roman Empire (14 Dec 2024, Live Science). 

“An 1,800-year-old silver amulet discovered in a burial in Germany,” writes the reporter, “is the oldest evidence of Christianity north of the Alps, according to a new study.” The amulet dates to sometime between 230 to 270 AD, and was discovered in a grave near Frankfurt, the east of the Rhine river.

“What makes this particular example remarkable is that it is written entirely in Latin and exclusively invokes Jesus Christ and the Christian god,” Rassalle said, which is unusual because most amulets “also appeal to angels, demons, or other supernatural entities.”

The wafer-thin silver foil inscribed with writing took years of careful preservation and CT scanning to reveal the writing. The translation of the Latin text reads, with question marks indicating uncertainties:

In the name?) of Saint Titus. Holy, holy, holy! In the name of JesusChrist, Son of God! The Lord of the world resists with [strengths?] all attacks(?)/setbacks(?). The God(?) grants entry to well-being. May this means of salvation(?) protect the man who surrenders himself to the will of the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, since before Jesus Christ every knee bows: those in heaven, those on earth and those under the earth, and every tongue confesses (Jesus Christ).

Implications
---The writer appears to reference the Epistle of Paul to Titus and the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians. 

---It does not ask for any kind of magical protection, which fits the Christian view that rejects divination and sorcery. 

---Instead, the text presents the gospel of Jesus Christ as the Son of God before whom all people will bow, as stated in Philippians 2:10-11 (That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.).

---The mention of Jesus as “Lord of the world” also points to His role as Creator (All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:3). 

---And the Trisagion (“Holy, holy, holy”) indicates familiarity with either Isaiah 6:3 (And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.) or Revelation 4:8 (And the four beasts had each of them six wings about Him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.) with its Trinitarian overtones. 

*By implication, the wearer may have had access to translations of these portions of Scripture in his native language, and had been instructed in Christian doctrine at this early date. The date of the artifact, therefore, could be years or decades later than the arrival of the gospel in the Frankfurt area." 

CEH

ARCHAEOLOGY: Noah on Roman Coins

"Imperial Rome produced a series of now-rare bronze coins depicting Noah’s Ark—the first known coins depicting a Biblical scene. These coins, averaging about 3 cm in diameter, were produced during the reigns of five Roman Emperors: Septimius Severus, Macrinus, Gordian III, Philip, and Trebonianus Gallus, covering a period of 61 years (AD 192–253).

The coins were all minted in the Roman city of Apameia Kibotos (or Cibotus in its Latinized spelling) in Asia Minor. It was originally a Phrygian city established by Antiochus I (280–261 BC), and is now the modern-day town of Dinar in Turkey. The original Phrygian city was named Apameia, and sometime before the turn of the 1st millennium BC appears to have had a nickname, Kibōtos, added to it. This word, meaning chest or box, is thought to be a reference to its coffers, as it had become a very wealthy city as it rose to prominence. The word kibōtos (κιβωτός) is also the Greek word used to describe Noah’s Ark in the New Testament and the Septuagint.

While Apameia Kibōtos is in the west of Turkey, a tradition4 was formed by the Jewish population living there that a nearby mountain was the actual Mountain of Ararat on which Noah’s Ark landed.

As the coins weren’t minted until AD 192, some have considered that the primary influence responsible for their minting may have been a Christian one. One reason is that for Jews, “A strict interpretation of the numerous prohibitions against idolatry in Scripture precluded the depiction of ‘graven images’ and thus any human or animal form on coins.”

The obverse of the coin carries the image and name of the Emperor, which obviously changes depending on the time of minting, but the core features remain essentially the same. 

On the reverse side it depicts Noah and his wife inside the box-

shaped Ark with waves lapping at the bottom of it.

 Noah’s name in Greek, ΝΩΕ (Nōe), can be clearly read in the middle of the Ark. 

On top of the Ark on the right is the raven, and on the top left is the dove with an olive branch in its mouth. 

On the left side of the coin Noah and his wife are again shown, standing outside the Ark on solid ground with their hands raised upwards to God in praise.

The New Testament indicates that the Ark is a ‘type’ of Jesus (Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: 

1 Peter 3:20–21); coming to Him in faith and repentance ensures salvation from God’s judgment on sin. So the story on the coin can be used by Christians to point people to Jesus, the Savior of the world." 

CMI

ARCHAEOLOGY: Seeress found in Denmark

And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? Isaiah 8:19

"A Norse burial site in Denmark from around the year 940 contains the remains of a woman of high status whom experts believe was a seeress or völva.

Such women held a special place in society and commanded the attention of Viking kings, warriors and even the gods. Witches, called völur, are mentioned in some of the old Norse manuscripts.
This grave contains the body of a woman who has been dubbed the Seeress of Fyrkat. She was buried with items that indicate she may have practiced seid or sorcery. Seid is an ecstasy technique, which enables the soul to travel to other worlds to seek information. The practice of seid is related to shamanism, with the seid expert’s work carried out whilst in a trance. We can in fact call the seid practioner a type of old Nordic shaman.
The völur were known to seduce men, and for this reason some deemed them dangerous. The goddess Freya was also known as a seducer, and she may have been a divine role model for sorceresses in Norse society.

At the time of burial the woman was dressed in fine blue and red clothes adorned with gold thread – which had royal status. She was buried, like the richest women, in the body of a horse-drawn carriage. She had been given ordinary female gifts, like spindle whorls and scissors. But there were also exotic goods from foreign parts, indicating that the woman must have been wealthy. She wore toe rings of silver, which have not been found elsewhere in Scandinavia. In addition, two bronze bowls were also found in the grave, which may have come all the way from Central Asia." AncientOrigins

ARCHAEOLOGY: What DA's tell us......

"The period of the Ice Age, called the Pleistocene, presents many

puzzles for secular scientists. Plants and animals from widely different climates or environments are found together in Ice Age deposits. These are called ‘disharmonious associations’ (DAs).

Probably the most striking example of a DA during the Ice Age is the association of hippopotamus fossils with reindeer, musk oxen, and woolly mammoths in England, France, and Germany. So far about 100 of these associations have been discovered in England and Wales. Hippos are intolerant of the cold. Sutcliffe states:

"Finding conditions so favorable, the hippopotamus (today an inhabitant of the equatorial regions) had been able to spread northwards throughout most of England and Wales, up to an altitude of 400 meters on the now bleak Yorkshire [northern England] moors."

---The wide variety of Ice Age animals found in England indicates that early in the Ice Age, there must have been an easy passage between what is now France and England. 

---This was likely a land bridge in the location of the Dover Strait.

Secular scientists attempt to dodge the implications of DAs. Since they believe in multiple ice ages, one strategy is placing the hippos and other warmth-adapted creatures into the ‘interglacial’ phases and the cold-tolerant animals into the ‘glacial’ phases. (We supposedly live in an interglacial called the Holocene.)

Much to secularists’ consternation, warm- and cold-loving animal types are often found together in Ice Age sediments, making it difficult to separate them into glacial and interglacial inhabitants.

Disharmonious associations were the ‘rule’ and not the exception during the Ice Age, and included a wide variety of flora and fauna:

"Late Pleistocene [Ice Age] communities were characterized by the coexistence of species that today are allopatric [live in different regions not climatically associated] and presumably ecologically incompatible. … Disharmonious associations have been documented for late Pleistocene floras … terrestrial invertebrates … lower vertebrates, birds, and mammals."

DAs can only occur in an equable climate, one with little seasonal contrast between winters and summers.

One reason DAs remain a mystery for uniformitarian scientists is that in their models, the ice ages would have been very cold. Many climate simulations have been run. They all give temperatures much colder than today, generally by 10°C (18°F) or more, and greater dryness south of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets.

"One of the longest-running philosophical debates in paleoecological interpretations concerns the importance of mixed, or disharmonious, assemblages which represent past communities with no modern analog. These mixed assemblages challenge our world views. … Mixed assemblages are usually explained by invoking past climates more “equable” than that of today."

The Ice Age caused by the Genesis Flood explains the most striking DA—hippopotamuses associated with cold-tolerant animals in northwest Europe. Early in the Ice Age a warm, moist onshore air flow pushed by predominantly westerly winds off a warm North Atlantic Ocean would result in a warm, wet climate over northwest Europe. England may have averaged 25°C (77°F) in winter and summer. This mild climate would be congenial for hippos spreading from the “mountains of Ararat” (Genesis 8:4) in the Middle East.

But the post-Flood Ice Age climate was dynamic and ever-changing.

As the ocean cooled and volcanism decreased, the land temperatures cooled. In Northwest Europe late in the Ice Age, the cooler and drier climate attracted cold-tolerant animals. Hippos likely could not migrate south, because the land bridge between England and France at the Dover Strait was destroyed by a catastrophic local flood.

he strange mix of plants and animals that lived together during the Ice Age is another of the many puzzles that have persisted for 150 years for scientists who ignore the Biblical Flood. But, once again, realistic analysis using a Genesis-based model of Earth history gives simple, solid answers to those puzzles." 

CMI

ARCHAEOLOGY: Roaming Pre-Flood Brazil

And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. Genesis 7:12

"A new genus and species of silesaurid being named Gondwanax

paraisensis has been identified from the fossilized remains discovered in Southern Brazil. Most authors agree that silesaurids are the sister-group to Dinosauria, forming the clade Silesauridae. 

The newly-discovered silesaurid species lived in what is now Brazil. The animal’s skeletal remains were recovered from the Santa Maria Formation in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil." 

SciNews

ARCHAEOLOGY: Dt. 4:19 & Rom. 1:23 in Egypt

And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.....and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
Deuteronomy 4:19/Romans 1:23 NIV

"An Egyptian archaeological team discovered the remains of the sixth-century-B.C. structure three years ago during excavations at an archaeological site in the ancient city of Buto, now called Tell Al-Faraeen, in Egypt's Kafr El-Sheikh governorate.

The team uncovered the ruins of an L-shaped mud-brick building spanning over 9,150 square feet. Its east-facing entrance, marked by a traditional gateway known as a pylon, leads to a spot where sunlight would have illuminated where the sky observer — known as 'smn pe' and who was usually a priest — stood to track the sun and stars, Ghonim said.

The structure still has a carving of smn pe facing the rising sun. 

This figure symbolizes the ancient Egyptians' connection to the cosmos, Ghonim said.....initially, archaeologists thought the clock was a temple gate. The team also found an ancient Egyptian timekeeping device known as a "merkhet,"....."The ancient Egyptians envisioned the Earth and sky as two mats," Ghonim said. "They mapped the sky on the 'Themet Hrt' — the sky mat — and the 'Themet Ghrt,' or Earth mat, represented their calendar, marking events like the Nile flood and harvest. This is the first inscribed stone mat of its kind ever discovered."

The excavation also uncovered a statue of the falcon-headed god Horus. The depiction of Horus, along with an eye of Horus, "embodies the systems of the universe and is linked to the sun, the moon, the god Horus, and the goddess Wadjet, the most important gods of Buto," according to the statement.

In ancient times, Buto was dedicated to the goddess Wadjet, a serpent goddess known to be protective of the king.

Inside the observatory, archaeologists found a gray, granite statue of King Psamtik I from the Saite era — the 26th dynasty — and a bronze figure of Osiris, a god associated with the underworld and resurrection, with a serpent, referring to the goddess Wadjet. 

These artifacts, along with various pottery items used in religious rituals, date the observatory to the sixth century B.C. and emphasize its dual role in scientific study and spiritual practice, Ghonim said." MS

ARCHAEOLOGY: 2 Cases

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; 1 Corinthians 1:27

"Twice now this year, researchers have noticed man-made etchings in rock that indicate possible awareness of extinct creatures. In the belief system of evolutionists and their requisite millions of years, such awareness is impossible, and so they come up with other explanations. 

Q: Why do they rule out eyewitness experiences of these creatures living among them?

The assumption of deep time leads to rejecting any explanation that infers overlap of humans with creatures that went extinct tens or

hundreds of millions of years ago. Those who doubt deep time, by contrast, can be more open minded about that possibility.

South African rock art possibly inspired by long-extinct species (18 Sept 2024, Science Daily). Dicynodonts (“two dog tooth”) are members of a motley group of pre-dinosaurian tetrapods classified as therapsids and synapsids. Today they are only known by their fossilized bones. South Africa is particularly rich in fossils of dicynodonts, some of which protrude from the ground. No other living land animal has their characteristic downward-curved tusks. It was a big surprise, therefore, when Julien Benoit of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg found petroglyphs (rock art) resembling dicynodonts.

"The Horned Serpent panel is a section of rock wall featuring artwork of animals and other cultural elements associated with the San people of South Africa, originally painted between 1821 and 1835. Among the painted figures is a long-bodied animal with downward-turned tusks which doesn’t match any known modern species in the area."

Benoit published the evidence in PLoS One, supplying photographs of the rock art that Benoit thinks resemble dicynodonts, and artist’s depictions of the creatures. As an evolutionist, how does he explain this? He speculates that the San people found fossil dicynodonts and depicted them in their rock art. This is curious, given that dicynodonts were not even recognized until Richard Owen named them in 1845.

"There is archaeological evidence that the San people might have collected fossils and incorporated them into their artwork, but the extent of indigenous knowledge of paleontology is poorly understood across Africa.

Further research into indigenous cultures might shed more light on how humans around the world have incorporated fossils into their culture."

It’s not an unreasonable speculation; even young-earth creationists

might find it doubtful to think that dicynodonts were walking around in 1821 to 1835 without more eyewitness reports by colonizers and missionaries. The point, again, is that Benoit cannot even consider it as a possibility the artists drew a living dicynodont.

"The ethnographic, archaeological, and palaeontological evidence are consistent with the hypothesis that the Horned Serpent panel could possibly depict a dicynodont…. This would imply that the San may have i) discovered dicynodont fossils, ii) interpreted them as long-extinct species, iii) made a painting of one of them at La Belle France, and iv) integrated them into their worldview."

---His explanation requires that the San people were fairly good at paleontology, able to depict what a creature looked like from its bones. Update 21 Sept 2024: Benoit wrote an article at The Conversation reposted at Live Science that gives additional details. He says that the 1835 date is “at the latest” but that “the San have inhabited the area for thousands of years.” This could make the petroglyph much, much earlier. Benoit claims that dicynodonts lived 265 to 200 million Darwin Years ago and were the dominant species in the area. The artists portrayed the creature as covered with bumps; Benoit shows a fossil of mummified skin of a dicynodont covered with bumps—really 250 million years old? He ruled out other creatures that the petroglyphs might represent. Walruses have downward tusks but never lived in sub-Saharan Africa, he says. A San myth spoke of “enormous brutes” that lived in their area. If the petroglyph depicts a dicynodont, it was drawn in the “death pose” common to many fossils. Others have commented that the “dinosaur death pose” (arched neck, body bent like a banana) represented suffocation by drowning (16 Feb 2012). A Flood, perhaps?

A remarkable assemblage of petroglyphs and dinosaur footprints in Northeast Brazil (Troiano et al., Nature Scientific Reports, 19 March 2024). This example is more subjective, yet interesting, since everyone is fascinated by dinosaurs. A location in Brazil has numerous fossilized dinosaur tracks in rock, made by both theropods and sauropods. Leonardo P. Troiano and three colleagues have found a “remarkable assemblage of petroglyphs” that appear to be associated with the dinosaur tracks.

"The three prominent outcrops feature fossilized footprints of theropod, sauropod, and iguanodontian dinosaurs from the Early

Cretaceous Period. Adjacent to these dinosaur tracks, indigenous petroglyphs adorn the surface. The petroglyphs, mainly characterized by circular motifs, maintain a striking resemblance to other petroglyphs found in the states of Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte. This study primarily endeavors to delineate the site’s major characteristics while concentrating on the relationship between the dinosaur footprints and the petroglyphs."

*How does he know they are Cretaceous rocks? Because they have Cretaceous dinosaur tracks in them. How does he know the dinosaur tracks are Cretaceous? Because they are found in Cretaceous rocks, dummy!

Since everyone “knows” that humans and dinosaurs did not co-exist, the team needed an explanation. Once again, they reasoned that early peoples who lived in Brazil must have been good paleontologists.

"The petroglyphs represent a unique and significant record, given

their direct association with dinosaur fossil tracks. This ensemble of archaeological and paleontological evidence unequivocally indicates that human populations during the pre-colonial period interacted with and likely assimilated the fossil record, incorporating such record into their graphical expression, a cultural one, and consequently integrating it into its collective identity. Particularly noteworthy is the evident intentionality in creating petroglyphs near the footprints, revealing active engagement with the fossil material, suggesting that these traces not only caught the attention of the native community but were meaningful and became integrated into their knowledge repertoire."

Readers can look at the photos and drawings in this open-access paper and draw their own conclusions. Most of the petroglyphs do not resemble the tracks (circles, rectangles, and nets), but are drawn near them, often in the same rock exposure next to the footprints. The team believes that the juxtaposition of the art in rock containing dinosaur tracks establishes the pre-colonial people’s interest in the tracks.

Q: What did the artists think they were drawing? They never heard the word dinosaur, obviously, since the word was not even invented until Richard Owen coined it in 1841.

So there’s the two cases: evolutionary scientists unable to consider the possibility that early peoples saw extinct creatures. 

The interesting thing in these two cases is how they could not even consider the alternative explanation, that people actually witnessed creatures alive then that are extinct today. Creationists, not beholden to deep time, can consider that possibility. They may reject it and agree with the evolutionists’ explanations in these particular cases. But they are not required by their worldview to do so." 

CEH

ARCHAEOLOGY: Separated by the Flood and Busted apart earth?

.... the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. Genesis 7:11

"In a remarkable discovery that spans millennia and continents, an

international team of researchers has uncovered over 260 matching dinosaur footprints in what is now Brazil and Cameroon.
These footprints, dating back to the Early Cretaceous period, offer an intriguing glimpse into an era when dinosaurs thrived on a vast supercontinent called Gondwana." 

Earth

ARCHAEOLOGY: Millo

"Archaeologists have uncovered a 'monumental' structure Jerusalem that is mentioned in two books of the Bible.

They uncovered ruins of an ancient moat that was built more than 3,000 years ago in the City of David, which is considered one of the oldest cities in history and believed to be the birthplace of Jesus.
Ophel and Millo are terms used in scripture to describe different parts of the City of David.
One reference can be found in the first Book of Kings (11:27), as King Solomon is described as building the construction, which was dubbed the 'Millo.': '… Solomon built up the 'Millo' and closed up the breach in the wall of the City of David his father.'
The location was built on top of a narrow, steep ridge overlooking hills and valleys that divided the land and made it difficult to move from one area to another.
'We are confident that [the moat] was used at the time of the First Temple and the Kingdom of Judah [in the ninth century BC], so it created a clear buffer between the residential city in the south and the upper city in the north,' Dr Shalev said.
According to the researchers, the moat was designed to change the City of David's topography to display Jerusalem's ruler's powers over others who entered their gates and emphasized their strength and capability to defend their walls at the time." 

DailyMail